Antelligent Design

56. The Fall

When my dish of curated agony arrives at its destination, the croc responds much as I would have expected. With unabridged anguish. The sheer terror and pain of one’s core being drained is a unique experience. I’m glad I had the chance to share it with this particular croca-commander. Gratified really, that I suffered for a noble cause.

Stunned by the sudden arrival of such a dense and rich package of sensation through the Mind Bridge, the croca is unable to resist its effects. The beast succumbs to the illusion it feels is real and not, in fact, crafted by a nefarious ant.

In my experience utilising mental warfare, I’ve found it’s generally the case that a monster has a chance to resist your sending through sheer force of mind. I’ve suspected this resistance is based upon the Will stat in some way. Which is why I had been worried the croca may be somewhat impervious to my mental strikes. Not so. It seems the impressive physique of the croca-commander hasn’t come without a cost.

Tiny, we have found your spiritual brothers here in the croca-beasts! Tough as nails and just as intelligent!

The monstrous crocodile reels in horror at the simulated pain emanating from within. Arms flail, and the creature attempts to fling Tiny and Crinis away, but they’re persistent, not willing to allow the beast to escape.

Chance!

I flex my legs and Dash toward the croca at full speed. I close the distance in a few seconds, my mandibles opened wide and ready to deliver their own particular brand of law and order.

CHOMP!

I pour my strength into the muscle that lines my head and bite down with every ounce of strength in my body. One bite is never enough! No ant was ever intended to win through an alpha strike. Bite, Bite and Bite some more!

Unwilling to continue to empty my Mana from my core, I refrain from infusing my mandibles with Mana and rely on their base destructive power. I’m the first to admit that my destructive power is somewhat lacking. That’s nothing new. But with my Skills and high level of mutation, I can at least contribute something on the ground level.

I’m not willing to keep flinging spells, that’s for sure!

Forced to use Splintering Chomp due to the solid defences of the croca, I work as mechanically as possible: bite, open, bite, open. Each time hoping I’ve pierced through the hard scales of the monsters’ leg and punctured the sweet, succulent muscle tissue beneath.

Tiny continues to unleash his barrage of punches even as his feet flicker above the ground as he shifts his weight to suit his punches. Electricity sparks and dances every time he strikes home and the damage is piling up.

For her part, Crinis focuses on keeping the two arms she has control of bound and contained, her saw teeth working overtime. In order to escalate her damage, she switches gears and shifts her head so she has access to chomp down with her terror-inducing teeth on the croc’s shoulders.

Which may have been a mistake. The pain of having those fangs sink deep into its shoulder is enough to shock the croca-commander out of the delusion I supplied. Its eyes flash red as it bellows out frustration and rage. Still light on his feet, Tiny manages to slip out of range as the croc flails at him with its two free arms. The claws rake through the air, leaving a shining trail of light as it executes a Skill.

Holy mackerel! That looked sharp!

Quick as a beat, the crocodile switches its play and turns to snap at Crinis with its vicious upper jaws.

[Crinis, watch—] I call but not quickly enough.

Thankfully, it doesn’t matter, as Crinis artfully dodges. Her entire body morphs out of the way, her shadow displaying its flexibility, and incredible ability to compress itself, her body choosing to be where the jaws were not.

[Nice, Crinis! Be careful up there!] I cheer.

I wonder if that’s a Skill she picked up? That level of movement, the speed, I haven’t seen her do anything like that before. Her body has always been somewhat amorphous, able to be compressed from her full, inflated ball of death down to a mere softball of implied illness.

This is a different type of shift. As the croc’s jaws closed in, she retracted the part of her body that would have been bitten, whilst leaving the rest of it alone. For a moment, it even looked as if the croca had bitten a chunk out of her since there was nothing but air remaining when it withdrew its teeth.

I refuse to sit by and let the pets do all of the work!

HAH!

Digging deep, I rear back and snap down with a Splintering Chomp. A resplendent crunching sound rings out as my mandibles pierce through the croc’s scales and deep into the leg beneath. With a loud groan, the titan staggers and I seize the opportunity to pull it off-balance, throwing my weight to one side, gripping the earth with my claws and hauling on the croca-commander with my jaws still lodged in its leg.

Timber!